Tending to the Soil Within
- H.R. Payne
- May 6
- 4 min read
Minerals, pH Balance, and Strong Bones
When the soil’s health is rich in its essential nutrients, our gardens flourish with resilience and vitality. Conversely, when the soil is depleted, it may become infected with disease, and even the best seeds struggle to reach their fullest potential. The same principle applies to the health of the body. Essential nutrients are foundational to the biological “soil” within us – without them, our ecosystem struggles to thrive, making it difficult for even God’s masterpiece to reach our fullest potential.
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Maintaining A Balance pH
In this article, we are going to explore a simple health tool that can be a valuable window into your body’s overall resilience – especially bone health. Optimal health comes down to maintaining internal balance, and one of the most overlooked markers is urine pH - a representation of your body’s acid - alkaline balance. Just as minerals are foundational to nourishing the health of the soil, when the body is fueled with the nutrients it needs, especially minerals, our systems can thrive in maintaining an acid-alkaline balance.*
Our bones contain far more than just calcium; they house a complex mineral matrix of 12 buffering minerals and over 60 trace minerals. When the body's mineral status is compromised due to poor diet, stress, or lifestyle factors, the body may draw on the bone as a mineral reservoir in a desperate attempt to maintain an acid-alkaline balance. Over time, this quiet demand may place a strain on the mineral foundation that the bone relies on for its strength.
When The Body Starts Borrowing From The Bones
Our bodies are alkaline by design but acidic in function. Nobel Prize winner, Albert Szent-Györgyi states, “Life is maintained in an alkaline environment, but metabolic processes constantly produce acids.” The body manages this delicate acid-alkaline balance with a quiet precision of the lungs, kidneys, and mineral buffers, all working as a symphony to preserve this harmony.
Diet, stress, and environmental toxins can create a much larger acidic burden than the body was ever designed to handle – especially when we are chronically malnourished and mineral intake is inadequate. When these acids accumulate for longer periods of time and the body doesn’t have proper mineral nourishment, it will protect itself (specifically protecting the blood pH) by drawing buffering minerals out of the tissue then eventually from the bone. Research suggests this increased demand may put strain on the bone mineral status (Bushinsky, 1996; Sebastian et al., 2002), and supporting adequate mineral nutrition will help maintain an acid-alkaline balance promoting optimal bone structure and overall physiological function.
Monitoring Your Urine pH
The kidneys serve as the master control center to this acid-alkaline balance by eliminating excess acids through the urine, and the urine pH, in turn, can provide clues about how the body manages this acid overload. Though the urine pH normally ranges between 4.5 and 8 (Simerville et al., 2005), most clinicians like to monitor the first-morning urine pH (ideally in the range of 6.5-7.5) as a representation of how the body is supporting this balance.
You can easily monitor your pH at home by testing your body's first morning urine with test strips. Just dip the strip into your first morning urine, then immediately match the color of the strip to the pH color chart on the roll. The number corresponding to the color tells you the pH – ideally, the pH should stay within a 6.5-7.5 range. Tracking this with your practitioner or health coach on a regular basis can help give you a general sense of how your body is managing its acid-alkaline balance.
A urine pH under 6.5 could be an indicator of:
High dietary intake of acid-forming foods
Low intake of mineral-rich foods
High mineral buffering demands
Work with your practitioner to monitor your first-morning pH to gain insight into how your body is managing its acid load and mineral buffering systems. Talk to your practitioner about helpful strategies such as dietary balance, supplementing with minerals, and whether the body may be negatively leaching nutrients from the bone to maintain its acid-alkaline equilibrium.
*This is not a diagnostic test but a simple tool that supports thoughtful conversations and strategies into maintaining optimal health.
What We Cultivate Eventually Becomes What Nourishes Us
Just as a wise farmer knows that every abundant harvest is rooted in rich, well-nourished soil, the path to true and lasting wellness begins by properly nourishing the foundational terrain God designed within us. Research consistently demonstrates that when our diets are abundant in mineral buffers from the foods we eat or the supplements we take (see below), they will help regulate the acidic burden in our bodies and promote calcium balance in our bones. Simply monitoring the pH of your urine can offer a small but meaningful glimpse into how our bodies are maintaining balance – while also reminding us that lasting health begins with “tending to the soil within.”
5 Mineral-Rich Foods and Supplements That Support A Healthy pH Balance
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